Property Development Opportunities within a Public-Private Partnership (P3) Model

Private-sector property developers act as owner/operators, leaseholders and financiers, and thus assume significant risk in the development of a property. Property development companies are involved in a wide variety of markets including commercial, industrial, residential, recreation and tourism. The strategic selection of land acquisitions is a critical factor for success.

As a landowner, the property developer also assumes the responsibility of building and maintaining infrastructure within the project, in order to present the property as an attractive and profitable investment for potential lessees. Building the best quality infrastructure is not only a smart financial decision but a strategic one.
In parallel, a large part of public sector responsibility lies in the provision of infrastructure, facilities and amenities for constituents. It is the public sector’s role to develop public assets that meet taxpayers’ needs, expectations of quality, and longevity. They are entrusted to protect public money from risk and spend it wisely.
A development model known as P3 (Public-Private Partnerships) has emerged to allow for risks and rewards of building public infrastructure to be shared between private and public sector partners.

P3 is a long-term, performance-based approach to procuring public infrastructure. The private sector partner, such as a property developer, assumes a major share of the risks in terms of financing and construction but is also held accountable for effective performance of the structure, including its design, planning and maintenance. A P3 contract then connects ongoing operations and/or maintenance payments over the life of the asset to the quality of the original construction based on specified performance criteria. In a P3 project, it is clearly in the property developer’s interest to build the most sustainable, high-performance and maintenance-free structure possible.

As well, transportation infrastructure, including the construction and maintenance of roadways within the project, becomes part of the P3 project scope. A low total cost of ownership (TCO) of planned roadways, such as avoidance of frequent repairs and upgrades, is desirable. One of many advantages of P3 is the engagement of private sector expertise and the opportunity for the private sector contractor to introduce innovation. When it comes to innovation, Tough Cell is setting a new standard in the world of road building and civil engineering.

Tough Cell, the most durable novel polymeric alloy (NPA) geocell available in the market today, is made from Neoloy, an innovative NPA material. Tough Cell offers unique solutions for ground improvement and soil reinforcement necessary for infrastructure development. Typical large-scale property developments require combined solutions across the entire project scope; Tough Cell delivers not only durable and maintenance-free paved and unpaved roads, but also solutions for paved pathways, parking lots, retaining walls and other landscaping.

Tough Cell is a cost-effective, durable, and easily installed solution for soil reinforcement and construction of sustainable access roads for the natural resources and energy industries, in any weather condition, all year round. This includes all types of roads leading to remotely located worksites, with limited accessibility and difficult terrain. All energy industries, including oil and gas, hydroelectric, and wind energy face similar challenges when it comes to creating access to work sites and remotely located resources. Energy industries often require routes over problematic soils and difficult to reach locales – from vast deserts, to mountain ranges, swamps, jungles, peat and Arctic stretches – asking for fast and reliable access solutions.

The use of Tough Cell for building access roads in energy industries allows the utilization of local, non-cohesive materials for infill, therefore overcoming the huge and costly problem of hauling graded and expensive aggregate and construction materials. By using locally available infill soils reinforced by Tough Cell, one can successfully create a more efficient jobsite and be able to conduct a successful project within budget and time constraints.

Access roads built with Tough Cell are extremely resistant to extensive traffic of very heavy rigs and machinery. By using the Tough Cell 3D cellular confinement system, with a large vertical zone of influence, non-cohesive granular material can be reinforced to provide stiffness and strength that cannot be achieved when using a 2D reinforcement method. By using a layering method, each layer’s reinforcement factor is multiplied by the improved modulus of the lower layers. Usually a single layer of Tough Cell Geocells is enough to improve the bearing capacity by creating a beam-effect. In extreme cases (e.g. CBR < 0.5%) an additional layer can be added as a sacrificial layer to help support the structure. This beam-effect acts as a semi-rigid mat, ensuring that swelling or seasonal changes, have little influence on the upper layers. In addition, the mechanical structure of the Tough Cell, along with the beam effect it creates, distributes vertical stresses evenly, minimize stress to the subgrade, minimize differential settlement and therefore enable much greater load support.

Tough Cell is the strongest and most stable geocell, maintaining its structural integrity over time – even under thermal cycling, in a wide temperature range from -60° to +60°C as well as static and cyclical loadings.

This solution is the best base reinforcement solution for oil road and gas road construction, including unpaved access roads, service and heavy-haul roads, pads, base stabilization for drilling rigs, base stations, camps, compressor stations, depots and pipeline protection.

Governments are under constant pressure to make smart financial decisions within strict budget constraints. This is a particularly challenging issue when it comes to transportation infrastructure. Maintenance costs grow year after year and are further exacerbated by cumulative backlogs in maintenance and road construction that often are not rehabilitated as planned due to budget constraints, seasonality or unexpected usage. Further on, road rehabilitation is costly, yet unavoidable, and transportation infrastructure expansions are always necessary due to increase traffic needs.

Tough Cell, a world leading geocell solution, can save valuable time and capital for all governments – municipal, provincial and federal, by constructing long lasting, sustainable roads, the heavy burden of never-ending maintenance can be diminished – leading to more satisfied constituents. With proven low maintenance needs, public roads built with Tough Cell can help municipal, provincial and federal bodies to more effectively use their limited operating budgets and continue to meet the ever-growing transportation needs of their communities.

Tough Cell, an innovative yet proven technology for road – paved or unpaved road construction, answers many of the complex challenges of modern public transportation. This high-performance geosynthetic solution ensures a quicker, cost-effective work process. These factors, coupled with sustainable and proven results, as well as the ability to build all year round, makes Tough Cell the best available road building alternative for government infrastructure decision makers today.

Project Example: Haul Road Construction in Canadian Permafrost for Oil Sand Mining

Mining oil sands requires very heavy machinery and the use of the world’s largest haul trucks and power shovels. Oil sands can be as deep as 40-60 meters below ground surface and after extraction are hauled to another location for processing. In spring time, the frozen top layer of the ground melts and water causes severe swelling to any road structure. When winter arrives, the water freezes again, causing distortions and further failures in the road surface. The challenge in this Canadian haul road construction project was to reinforce access roads to service CAT trucks that weigh 600+ tons GMW. (Gross Machine Operating Weight) while taking under consideration that dimensional stability under changing environment conditions including freeze-thaw thermal cycling is a must.

Tough Cell was laid in the base layer for subgrade reinforcement and to increase bearing capacity. Reclaimed bitumen process sand was used as infill and topped with a 15 cm stone wearing course. Tough Cell’s high stiffness enhanced the sands engineering value and its low CTE (Coefficient of Thermal Expansion) provided long lasting structural integrity even with subarctic temperature cycles.

Project Example: Unpaved Access Road for Pipeline in Kazakhstan Desert

Kazakh Steppe is the largest plane in the world, stretching over 800,000 Sq./Km. The task of laying pipelines across it is definitely most challenging but have important purpose- developing rich hydrocarbon resources for the central Asia-China pipeline project. Logistics of transporting heavy equipment and personnel over large distances and sand are almost impossible. KazStroyService, along with China National Petroleum Company (CNPC), looked for a solution that will increase accessibility and assist expediting the pipeline construction.

An embankment was constructed to create a separation layer between the desert sand and the road, Tough Cells were infilled with local sand and a local sand-gravel mix was used as the riding coarse. Eventually, the pavement was compacted with heavy compactors. The installation was quick and CNPC were so satisfied that they chose Tough Cell solution in other projects as well.

Governments are under constant pressure to make smart financial decisions within strict budget constraints. This is a particularly challenging issue when it comes to transportation infrastructure. Maintenance costs grow year after year and are further exacerbated by cumulative backlogs in maintenance and road construction that often are not rehabilitated as planned due to budget constraints, seasonality or unexpected usage. Further on, road rehabilitation is costly, yet unavoidable, and transportation infrastructure expansions are always necessary due to increase traffic needs.

Tough Cell, a world leading geocell solution, can save valuable time and capital for all governments – municipal, provincial and federal, by constructing long lasting, sustainable roads, the heavy burden of never-ending maintenance can be diminished – leading to more satisfied constituents. With proven low maintenance needs, public roads built with Tough Cell can help municipal, provincial and federal bodies to more effectively use their limited operating budgets and continue to meet the ever-growing transportation needs of their communities.

Tough Cell, an innovative yet proven technology for road – paved or unpaved road construction, answers many of the complex challenges of modern public transportation. This high-performance geosynthetic solution ensures a quicker, cost-effective work process. These factors, coupled with sustainable and proven results, as well as the ability to build all year round, makes Tough Cell the best available road building alternative for government infrastructure decision makers today.

Paved Roads

Tough Cell is a solution that is not limited to application for weak subgrade or clay soils. The alternative to use locally available, weaker soils, with their modulus being improved by Tough Cell confinement for the base layer, presents proven cost savings and more sustainable road construction opportunities for a large variety of infrastructure projects.

Vast research of the reinforcement mechanisms has shown that the most important parameter for soil confinement is the geocell material. Tough Cell, which is a Neoloy based geocell, increases the strength of its infill material and the elastic modulus of the pavement due to its high tensile strength, improved polymeric creep resistance and overall structural integrity – over time and under dynamic and cyclical stresses.

Tough Cell is suitable for the reinforcement of any existing paved roads or the construction of reliable, long lasting new roads. The many governmental projects executed with Tough Cell have proven that its use reduces paved road maintenance and significantly increases the life-span of the road. This makes paved road construction with Tough Cell a more sustainable, environmentally friendly and cost-effective solution than any other solution on the market.

Unpaved Roads

The Tough Cell solution provides a strong base / subbase for unpaved road construction, enabling the use on any kind of low bearing capacity soil – whether it be clay, saturated soil or other soft soils. In general, conventional aggregate materials require thicker pavement layers and extensive earthwork The geocell enhances the layer modulus, reducing the layer thickness to suit all types of unpaved roads / gravel roads, and low volume roads, bringing benefits such as:

Project Example: Steep Slope Stabilization in the City of Calgary

This Calgary steep roadside slope that is located in a residential area was continuously subdued by repeated sliding. The slope had chronic surface erosion and natural runoff that created drainage problems and safety issues that had to be dealt with. The challenge was to find a solution that would supply a sustainable erosion control solution with minimal future maintenance needs. Another challenge was the clay subgrade that was partially contributing to the sliding and failures. Calgary city and Golder Associates chose Tough Cell as the solution and the installation process was supervised by city representatives. During the process, the slope was graded and terraced, a single layer of Tough Cell was installed and filled with 10 cm of soil. The reinforced slope was mulched to stimulate natural growth and seeded for further future erosion protection.

The installation process was performed quickly with no disruption to the residents of the area. One year after installation there were no failures and a positive burst of regrowth was noted.

A Unique Design

Tough Cell strips are welded together to form a honeycomb-like polymeric cell section which are laid out and filled with granular infill, creating a reinforced composite “mattress” used for versatile soil stabilization and reinforcement applications including municipal paved and unpaved roads, access roads, heavy haul roads, mining roads, railroads, container and heavy equipment yards, slopes, channels, retaining walls and landscaping. This technology is the preferred choice in a multitude of industrial market sectors including oil and gas, logging, mining, military, and other soil reinforcement projects especially on soft soils, peats, expansive clays and permafrost.

Vast, worldwide project experience, together with a deep understanding of high performance geosynthetics and geotechnical engineering, has been key to the successful implementation of this innovative technology, and its outstanding performance and contribution to civil engineering projects in a wide variety of soil conditions and extremely hot and cold climates.

The unique structural design of Tough Cell 3D cellular confinement and its reinforcement properties enables the use of a wider variety of granular infill materials – in nearly any weather condition including extreme-cold winter installation. Tough Cell does not require the import and transport of expensive aggregate to the project site and can be applied and infilled with locally available free-draining, non-cohesive, granular infills, (e.g. sand, recycled concrete, RAP, slag, fly-ash and other waste materials). These advantages provide an overall reduction in project materials costs, transportation and handling, machine and installation time & costs.

The Tough Cell solution is not only time saving and cost-effective, it is also a green solution, which provides for low impact designs and much lower carbon footprint. The results on project sustainability are manifold: use of virgin aggregates is reduced – less screening, crushing, processing and hauling; less material for in-site placement (and less subgrade soil replacement); less earthworks / equipment operations; and, the overall reduction in fuel use, vehicle pollution, airborne dust, sediment runoff and project carbon footprint.

The MIF (Modulus Improvement Factor), or soil strengthening of infills in the Tough Cell cellular confinement technology was studied in many world renowned academic and government institutions, laboratories and regulatory agencies, (resulting in numerous scientific & Journal papers), and proven to increase infill material strength by factors of 2-5 times, making it the best mechanical soil reinforcement and load support solution for proven long term structural pavement durability. Tough Cell carries a 75 year material, workmanship & performance warranty and provides an alternative to building a more affordable and sustainable civil infrastructure.

As the Neoloy Tough Cell reached the goal of warrantied performance for up to 75 years, it is now the only existing high modulus Geocell that not only answers the basic needs of road reinforcement and supports all engineering industry applications; but ensures faster installation at lower costs, even with soft or difficult soils, when there are limited aggregate resources in remote locations.

Constructing with Tough Cell

Construction with Tough Cell can be performed by standard road construction crews following short training and at the pace of conventional road construction. Work is modular in nature and the possibility of installation crews working in parallel is often employed in larger projects. The finished roads have up to a four times longer lifespan than other conventional roads, translating to direct savings in operation and maintenance budgets. There is also evidence of considerably less tire wear & tear in mining operations and less road bans in areas susceptible to frost-heave during season change.

Tough Cell History

The first cellular confinement systems were developed by the US Corps of Engineers for tactical military use. The initial 3D honeycomb grids were made from aluminum and its purpose was to distribute vertical loads and improve the bearing capacity of soft soils by using materials like the sand in beachheads as infill and create temporary passageways for military vehicles and supplies. In the late 1970’s, the aluminum was replaced by high density polyethylene (HDPE) polymer due to its relatively moderate cost and the flexibility it afforded in packaging the materials for shipment and in their deployment in the field.

In 2005, a visionary R&D program was undertaken to compound a nano-polymeric engineering alloy to meet the long- lasting performance required for public transportation and DOT applications. The result was Neoloy – a Novel Polymeric Alloy (NPA) of polyester/polyamide nano-fibers dispersed in a polyethylene matrix, developed to improve the long-term stiffness and Long Term Dimensional Stability (LTDS) of the geocell. Neoloy is a nano-technology material that combines the ductility of polyethylene with the stability and resistance of polyamides, manufactured under patented processes.

Acknowledgements:

We are thankful to our colleagues at PRS Geotechnologies Ltd. for their assistance with this project.Certain products and/or applications described or illustrated are protected under international patents. Tough Cell® and Neoloy® are registered trademarks of PRS Geotechnologies Ltd. Final determination of the suitability of any information or material for the use contemplated, or for its manner of use, is the sole responsibility of the user.

The Tough Cell high-performance geocell, fabricated from Neoloy, introduces a multitude of proven benefits to the world of soil stabilization. This innovative technology enables highly-significant improvements – both from economic and engineering perspectives – that lead to unmatched, industry-leading, cost-effective solutions.

Tough Cell technology allows optimization according to performance requirements for each specific project. This tailoring capability maximizes the compatibility to the project’s needs, successfully creating a scenario in which this tailor-made solution can reduce project costs by up to 50%. By using Tough Cell, all project milestones are tediously thought-out – offering the best value-engineered proposition, most efficient installation method, flexible infill needs, and proven longevity for design-life performance. This innovative technology results in time, equipment and manpower savings during construction.

Green Solution

Tough Cell is an ideal green, sustainable solution for roads, highways and civil infrastructure. In flexible pavements, Tough Cell reinforcement typically reduces the amount of granular infill materials by 50% or more. Additionally, the reinforcement enables the use of on-site/ marginal quality and/or poorly graded infill or recycled materials. Yet, this is not where the list ends; results on sustainability are numerous.These include:

• The reduction of virgin aggregate used – less screening, crushing, processing and hauling;
• Less in-site placement (and less subgrade replacement) – less earthworks / equipment operations;
• The overall reduction of fuel use, vehicle pollution, airborne dust, sediment runoff and project carbon footprint.

The increased stiffness of the Tough Cell reinforcement also improves the pavement performance enabling higher traffic, heavier loading and/or extended service life, meaning fewer repairs, longer life-cycle maintenance and more reliable and safer roads. For erosion control and earth stabilization, Tough Cell maximizes soil confinement, maximizes drainage and prevents runoff.

Erosion Control For Slope and Channels

Tough Cell’s honeycomb, perforated yet durable 3D structure is extremely efficient for controlling soil erosion, enabling drainage and stabilizing slopes. It provides long-lasting and effective steep slope stabilization for soil erosion control; all soil stabilization needs for slope protection are met and can be custom designed and matched specifically to every project. Tough Cells can be infilled with soil and vegetation, with granular non-cohesive infills or in cases of high velocity water flows -with concrete. The chosen fill can be customized – in accordance to the nature of the project’s hydraulic conditions and/or the global stability and soil makeup of the construction site. Tough Cell advanced three-dimensional earth confinement system is the best solution for channel and shoreline erosion caused by streaming water.
Designed to enhance friction resistance to prevent soil migration, the Neoloy material that Tough Cell is constructed of grants durability to harsh environmental conditions, such as very high temperatures, oxidation and UV radiation. Structurally suited for optimal water drainage, Tough Cell Geocell slope stabilization solution is also based on flexible structural design that endures earth movements while maintaining structural integrity for a long lasting life span.

Subsequently, Tough Cell slope stabilization methods guarantee durable, proven solutions for slopes while offering various cover options, determined by the project’s nature, channel geometry and hydraulic conditions, including:

Topsoil – Landscaping
One of the Tough Cell slope stabilization methods, makes use of local soil as infill. Tough Cell’s perforated wall design encourages plant growth, thus creating an interlock by using the rooted soil to ensure even greater root mass reinforcement. The same perforations optimize water drainage by limiting hydrostatic buildup. Using topsoil protects the environment and is a cost-effective solution that are more effective solutions than riprap, gabions or erosion control blankets.
Note: This solution is suitable for up to 6.5 m/sec flow velocity.

Granular – Shorelines and Landfills
Natural river banks and shorelines sometimes need riverscape engineering to protect them from erosive forces. By using crushed stone or gravel infill, Tough Cell provides effective protection for slopes/channels and shorelines that are exposed to hydraulic forces, such as ice, wind and water. In addition, Tough Cell can provide geomembrane protection in reservoirs. And landfill drainage systems.
Note: This solution is suitable for up to 3.5 m/sec flow velocity.

Hard Armor – Drainage Trenches and Channels
Tough Cell offer cost-effective, long-term slope protection for channels and road drainage ditches. Use of concrete infill is the preferred choice when dealing with high flows and stresses, such as bottom highway slope trenches where storm water causes intensive run-off. In channel retention cases, only cells subject to high flow rates are filled with concrete while other cells can be filled with granular crushed stone.
Note: This solution is suitable for up to 13.0 m/sec flow velocity.

Tough Cell cellular confinement system is a reliable solution for reservoirs and landfills, including waste, and leachate impoundment. Tough Cell geocells are layered on top of a reservoir slope or pond geomembrane, filled with aggregate or concrete fill for long lasting protection against human or naturally caused damage.

The most crucial challenge for reservoirs is the ability to completely and efficiently protect its containment geomembrane – all while ensuring soil and slope stability. Tough Cell Geocells – with armor infill – provide exactly that. Tough Cells made from Neoloy novel polymeric alloy are highly resistant to extreme weather conditions and have been tested to have very low polymeric creep. The Tough Cell technology allows long-lasting, durable soil stabilization against erosive forces, slip and mass movements, while the geocell layer further shields the geomembranes from damage.

When used in landfills as a cover system, combined with an erosion control layer that minimizes erosion, Tough Celll maximizes control over the dissipation of gases released from decomposing municipal waste landfills. The capacity of these landfills is increased by using steeper slopes enabled by Tough Cell slope protection.

The Tough Cell structure enhances a multitude of infill material behavior, successfully enabling the use of:

Concrete – Containment and treatment ponds. Using concrete is fast and efficient. The Tough Cell is laid in ready-made forms and finished with hard-armor in a uniform thickness – for the best results for every environment.

Gravel – Landfill drainage and leachate treatment.

Vegetated – Landfill covers, landscape rehabilitation and detention ponds.

Earth retention applications usually require highly durable and reliable solutions, especially in regards to its stability and external facia. With this factored into the equation, Tough Cell creates reinforced geocell slopes with proven resistance to degradation caused from extreme temperatures, UV radiation, oxidation and load stresses.

Earth retention walls constructed from Tough Cell are strong, long lasting, easily installed, green solutions, utilized for steep slopes (up to 81⁰) with complex topography; they are available in stepped or vertical designs. The use of Tough Cell provides structural integrity even over soft subgrades and by using locally available soils as backfill material.

Several reasons for slope failure include heavy rain, flooding and seismic activity. Reinforced geocell slopes – using Tough Cell – are designed to be flexible enough to dissipate energy from ground movements and act like a shock absorber, therefore make them more resistant to earthquakes. Tough Cell retention walls were tested at the National Seismic Research Institute
in Japan in 2009. Results illustrated great performance in retaining structural stability, with a very low seismic reduction factor (0.3-0.4 times PGA). In the same study, it was found that HDPE geocells are not sustainable for long-lasting applications.

With this innovative, green construction method, every Tough Cell can be an individual planter that contains vegetation, with its roots retaining soil substrate. Excellent drainage due to Tough Cell perforation along with dense vegetation provides a green landscape and environmental aesthetics.

There are three types of Tough Cell based retention walls suitable for different project types:

• Gravity retaining walls – steep walls for earth erosion control, durable for external loads and self-weight.
• Reinforced walls – earth stabilization for high retaining walls, reinforced with horizontal geogrids.
• Integrated earth stabilization – a solution combining Tough Cell retaining walls and back slope cover protection.

Railways, Airports, Seaports and Intermodal Facilities

The heavy worldwide development of railways, airport runways, ports, and container yards construction all have one thing in common – they require heavy-duty pavements, but many of them are built on top of soft, marginal soils and sometimes swamps. The Tough Cell solution for soil stabilization and pavement reinforcement in these situations is sustainable under heavy traffic, loading, enhanced stresses and extreme axle weights, providing the answer for all types of special heavy-duty structures including:

Railways

Successful railway engineering solutions are measured by maintenance costs. Tough Cell offers a cost-effective solution for railway ballast stabilization – for both the sub ballast and ballast layers. The Tough Cell is usually positioned in the ballast interface area to prevent track degradation and structural integrity under heavy loads. The Tough Cell solution has been used in railway tracks built on any type of soft soils (clay, sand, saturated) and has proven results in reducing maintenance cycles. The solution to reducing surface geometry deformation is to use Tough Cell as structural support at the ballast interface. Full scale field tests determined that Neoloy based Tough Cell decreased degradation levels by a 2-2.75 factor. In addition to extending track ballast maintenance cycles, Tough Cell is ideal for new railway soil stabilization and rehabilitation of tracks that suffer from accelerated wear and tear.

Tough Cell offers soil stabilization solutions for different railway applications:
Embankments – Tough Cell increases strength, protects foundation structural integrity and provides reinforcement at the foot of a soft subgrade or the top layers of the embankment. It further reduces vertical deformation and lateral displacement of the railway ballast by more than 50%, making it stiff and durable.
Earth Stabilization – The provision of soil stabilization solutions on any typical railway development structure, including slope/channel protection, retaining walls, stream diversions and flyovers, is incorporated within the ToughCell technology. This also includes earth berms and green noise barriers that are the best noise insulators, yet maintain a green façade.
Ballast Confinement – Scattering ballast, that can cause settlement, is the main railway maintenance nuisance. Tough Cell cellular confinement minimizes particle movement and prevents aggregate shearing under heavy loads.
Sub Ballast Reinforcement – The substructures under ballast layers is structurally important but due to technical challenges not subject to regular maintenance. The utilization of Tough Cell reinforces this layer and creates a semi-rigid platform based on the beam effect. This design reduces degradation, enhanced shear strength and promoted load distribution.

Airport Pavement Reinforcement (Runway Construction)

The demands for airport and runway construction is expanding significantly worldwide. Most airports are located in city margins, in relatively remote areas with soft subgrade soils or even in swamp lands. A soil stabilization solution is greatly needed, with base reinforcements being crucial for the airport infrastructure. Tough Cell is a proven pavement reinforcement solution that provides ground improvement properties for airport access roads, runway shoulders, storage yards, platforms and aprons.

Tough Cell enhances each pavement layer and reinforces the layer modulus for sustaining very heavy loads during a long life span and frequent traffic for all airport related applications:
Pavement reinforcement – Long lasting heavy load sustainable pavements, with reduced layer thickness. Tough Cell is suitable for parking aprons, container storage areas, runway shoulders, and more airport related construction and transportation needs.
Rigid concrete pavements – Long term pavement life, with minimal maintenance requirements. The concrete slab thickness is reduced by approximately 25%.
Reinforcement of runway shoulders – A reinforced turf surface cover provides heavy load resistance and offers a critical safety factor for aircrafts that may stray from the runway.

Seaports

The three most important requirements for ports, container yards or storage areas are: heavy load reinforcement, good drainage and quality layers of aggregate. The Tough Cell design meets these strict criteria at a fraction of the time and cost of conventional methods. Moreover, life cycle maintenance savings are even greater.

The Neoloy-based Tough Cell provides load support by creating a semi-rigid slab (“beam effect”) that distributes the load over a wider area, all while using most aggregates. The Tough Cell design increases the bearing capacity by a factor of X5 and decreases differential settlement by up to 80%. These capabilities enable the Tough Cell placement below paving blocks in the base layer and replace other reinforcement methods that require specialist contractors as well as higher installation time and cost.

Tough Cell’s high creep resistance provides dimensional stability required for a long-lasting pavement, even when subjected to heavy static or cyclical loads in extreme weather conditions.